23-Jan-2001 -- Feeling a little looped out on cough syrup and antibiotics, I elected this morning to have my co-explorer Thomas C.H. Mueller do the driving. The confluence we sought was (according to topo maps) on what seemed to be gently rolling farmlands in southwest Carroll County, IL.

The confluence area was less than a mile off Highway 78. At first we took Argo Faye Rte in, but there was a house and many farm buildings along this road and we didn't want to concern anyone with our parked car. We orbited the confluence by turning south on Golding (a dirt road) and parking on the shoulder at least a quarter mile from any visible structure and about 1/3 mile SW of the confluence.

Entering the (unfenced) snow-covered farm fields, we were happy to find that the windswept packed snow crust usually supported our weight as we walked. Progress was rapid, except where we had to cross a small tributary of Sand Creek. The little creek had worn a considerable ditch in a wooded gully which was best traversed by leaping bank to snow-covered bank.

The confluence itself is well out into another field, and appears rather desolate in the photos with all the snow cover. Tom and I chipped a small "X" in the snow crust with our boots to mark our estimate of the confluence point, which the new Magellan GPS 315 estimated to be within 13 feet of true. [You can see the "X" under Tom's feet in picture #5]

Having taken our pictures, we returned to our vehicle to set out for N44 W091, two degrees to our north and one degree further west.